Ypsilanti's Hutchinson House has a rich history

A large house stands overlooking the city at the corner of Forest Avenue and River Street, known as the Hutchinson House for the man who had it built. The house is a local landmark, and the subject of some conversation. The story is the stuff of novels, but is true.

Shelley Byron Hutchinson was born in a log cabin just north of Ypsilanti on Oct. 19, 1864, in Superior Township. The family soon after moved to Ypsilanti, and the father, Stephen, became the town constable. The young Shelley made his living as a dancing master.

It was while working as a clerk in a store in Battle Creek that the young Shelley came up with the idea for trading stamps. The stamps were given to customers to encourage sales, and customers saved the stamps until they had enough to exchange for premiums.

He opened his first store in Jackson, and from this modest beginning the business grew. Then Hutchinson took in a partner, Thomas Sperry, and the business became S&H Green Stamps.

The business was a great success. Hutchinson once told a friend, "The money came in so fast he couldn't take care of it with a scoop shovel."

In 1899 Hutchinson married the 18-year-old Clara Unsinger in San Francisco. The couple lived in New York for a time, and then came to Ypsilanti for a visit in 1901. On his arrival, he informed his father the household furniture was on the way. A few days later he said to his father: "I think I will build a house here or in Detroit. Which place do you prefer?" "Here, of course," said his father. Work on the new house began in August of 1901.

The house was said to have been the most beautiful in Washtenaw County at the time. Mahogany and teakwood imported from Africa were used lavishly throughout. The first floor had a grand hall, a Moorish music room in natural oak with silver and green decorations, and a library in mahogany. Just off the library was the conservatory with a glass dome and beyond that a piazza in a stone finish.

"The large ballroom on the second floor has an orchestra alcove and a pretty gallery and nook where those who are not dancing may watch the festive scene below. There is a splendid promenade around the south side balcony, just off the ballroom," reported The Washtenaw Daily Times of May 7, 1902.

Even the basement of the house was of interest to visitors, with its large laundry, vegetable room, the wine room, the boiler and fuel room which could hold a railroad carload of coal.

"The big boilers are worth seeing, for this great house is entirely heated by steam on the direct radiator plan. From here we come to the billiard room, the gymnasium and the large swimming pool," noted the Washtenaw Daily Times.

"Nearby are the cisterns where all the water from the roof is first stored in a 100-barrel vat and then filtered and pumped to a final storage cistern with a capacity of 500 barrels," continued the account.

The house when finished cost $88,000 and the furnishings, many imported from Europe, added $20,000 more to the cost.

Hutchinson lost his fortune to bad investments, his wife left him, taking the children with her to live in a neighbor's home. The house was sold at public auction on the courthouse lawn to satisfy a defaulted mortgage of $12,000, and unpaid taxes of approximately $2,000. All this happened just 10 years after the house was built.

The house is still standing and now is the headquarters of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation.